Quantitative magnetic resonance assessment of brain atrophy related to selected aspects of disability in patients with multiple sclerosis : preliminary results

Purpose: The aim of this volumetric study was to evaluate the relationship between brain atrophy quantification in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and the progression of disability measured by neurological standardised tests. Material and methods: Seventeen patients (mean age 40.89 years) with clinically definite MS and 24 control subjects (mean age 38.45 years) were enrolled in the study. Brain examinations were performed on a 1.5T MR scanner. Automatic brain segmentation was done using FreeSurfer. Neurological disability was assessed in all patients in baseline and after a median follow-up of two years, using EDSS score evaluation. Results: In MS patients we found significantly (p < 0.05) higher atrophy rates in many brain areas compared with the control group. The white matter did not show any significant rate of volume loss in MS patients compared to healthy controls. Significant changes were found only in grey matter volume in MS subjects. At the follow-up evaluation after two years MS patients with deterioration in disability revealed significantly decreased cerebral volume in 14 grey matter areas at baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compared to MS subjects without disability progression. Conclusions: Grey matter atrophy is associated with the degree of disability in MS patients. Our results suggest that morphometric measurements of brain volume could be a promising non-invasive biomarker in assessing the volumetric changes in MS patients as related to disability progression in the course of the disease

Psychological traits in hypertension

Wstęp Dotychczas nie wyjaśniono znaczenia cech osobowości dla rozwoju pierwotnego nadciśnienia tętniczego. Spośród cech osobowości największe znaczenie przypisuje się aleksytymii, niejawnej wrogości oraz neurotyzmowi. Wyniki badań są jednak wieloznaczne. Celem badania była ocena wybranych cech osobowości u osób z nadciśnieniem tętniczym. Materiał i metody Do badania włączono 42 osoby z nadciśnieniem tętniczym i 57 osób tworzących grupę kontrolną. Badanych kwalifikowano spośród osób, które zgłosiły się na badanie przesiewowe chorób układu krążenia w podwrocławskiej wsi Boguszyce. Do grupy z nadciśnieniem tętniczym kwalifikowano osoby, u których w przeszłości rozpoznano nadciśnienie tętnicze i które były leczone z tego powodu lub u których przygodne ciśnienie tętnicze było wyższe niż 140/90 mm Hg. Cechy osobowości oceniono za pomocą następujących kwestionariuszy: aleksytymii Bermonda-Vorsta (BVAQ), wrogości CookaMedleya, dostosowania społecznego Marlowe&#8217;a-Crowne&#8217;a oraz skal neurotyzmu i kłamstwa Kwestionariusza Osobowości Eysencka. Wyniki Statystycznie istotne różnice stwierdzono w zakresie wymiaru werbalizacji skali BVAQ (grupa z nadciśnieniem tętniczym 25,76/grupa kontrolna 23,57; p = 0,032), różnicy między wymiarami reaktywności i rozpoznawania (emocji) (-1,96/1,64; p = 0,024) oraz neurotyzmu (14,80/12,21; p = 0,02). Po uwzględnieniu różnicy wieku za pomocą analizy kowariancji stwierdzono, że różnice średnich wartości wszystkich skal nie były statystycznie istotne. Stwierdzono jednak, że wartości niektórych pozycji skal neurotyzmu i BVAQ różniły się znacząco w grupach. Z pozycji tych utworzono odrębne skale, których wartości średnie różniły się w grupach, nawet po uwzględnieniu wieku badanych. W analizie tych skal wykazano, że dotyczą skłonności do przeżywania negatywnych emocji oraz wglądu w emocje. Wnioski Osoby z nadciśnieniem tętniczym charakteryzowały się większą reaktywnością emocjonalną oraz mniejszą umiejętnością rozpoznawania i werbalizowania własnych emocji.Background The relationship between psychological factors and hypertension has not been established. Such traits as alexithymia, hostility, and neuroticism are the most common suggested dimensions of personality that are contributable to essential hypertension. However, the researches have yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of the study was the estimation of certain psychological traits in hypertensives. Material and methods We have studied 42 persons with hypertension and 57 of control group. Participants were recruited from persons who volunteered to participate in free medical control of circulation diseases organized in small polish village. Hypertensive group consisted of subjects who had the diagnosis of hypertension and were treated because of this or in who the office blood pressure measurement was higher than 140/90 mmHg. Psychological traits were estimated by using following questionnaires: the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ), The Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and two subscales from Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R) - neuroticism and lie. Results Statistically significant differences were noted in alexithymic difficulty in verbalizing mean score (hypertensives - 25.76/normotensives - 23.57; p = 0.032), in the value of difference between alexithymic emotional and cognitive dimensions (-1,96/1,64; p = 0,024) and in neuroticism score (14.8/12.21; p = 0.02). Abovementioned differences became statistically non relevant when age difference between groups was accounted. However, there were some positions in neuroticism and BVAQ scales that differed between groups. From these positions two separate scales were constructed. Mean values of these scales differed between groups even when age was accounted. Analysis of these scales indicated that differences between groups concerned tendency to experience negative emotions and recognizing emotions. Conclusions Hypertensives had the tendency of greater emotional reactivity and lower ability to identify and verbalize emotions

May personality traits conduce to essential hypertension?

Rola cech osobowości w rozwoju nadciśnienia tętniczego została jak dotąd określona w niewielkim stopniu. Najczęściej wymienianymi cechami osobowości, które mogą mieć znaczenie w patogenezie nadciśnienia tętniczego, są: wrogość, aleksytymia, dostosowanie społeczne i neurotyzm. W pracy zebrano informacje dotyczące cech osobowości, które wiążą się z rozwojem nadciśnienia tętniczego. Przedstawiono również wyniki opublikowanych badań na temat związku pomiędzy cechami osobowości a nadciśnieniem tętniczym oraz współczesne poglądy na mechanizmy patofizjologiczne tego związku.The contribution of personality traits to development of essential hypertension have not still been firmly determined. Such traits as hostility, alexithymia, social defensiveness and neuroticism are the most common suggested dimensions of personality associated with pathogenesis of essential hypertension. The article reviews psychological traits related to essential hypertension. It also provides the results of studies considering the relationship between personality and hypertension and the current knowledge about the pathophysiological mechanisms of this relation

ABPM anxiety disorders

Fifty consecutive outpatients with anxiety disorders and personality disorders who participated in intensive group psychotherapy were included. Diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV-TR criteria using the PSE-10 questionnaire. Out of 50 patients, 17 were diagnosed with Panic Disorder and 21 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The control group consisted of 40 healthy people from the general population. None of the people included in any of the groups had a diagnosis of hypertension nor cardiovascular disease or any serious somatic disease. To study the 24-hour automatic monitoring of blood there were used ABPM recorders (ambulatory blood pressure measurement) Medilog Accutracker DX that combine auscultatory and ECG techniques. For the day record (from 7.01 to 22.00) time interval was 20 minutes and for the night record (from 22.01 to 7.00) it was 30 minutes. For the analysis of the obtained record, the ABP Suprima – Medilog Oxford system was used. The result of this phase of the analysis was the digital record containing the set of systolic and diastolic pressure values. Taking into consideration the diverse circadian activity of the studied people, the comparison of average blood pressure during periods of day and night – excluding waking up and falling asleep – was made. Based on the analysis of the studied people’s circadian activity, to estimate the average blood pressure during the day, the period between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. was assumed, and to estimate the average blood pressure during the night, the period between midnight and 6 a.m. was assumed.variables: age, sex, group (2-panic attacs, 1-withot panic attacs, 0-healthy controls)diag_ (1-panic, 2-GAD, 3-other)diagnoses (DSM-IV-TR code), SDBP (mean systolic day blood pressure), SNBP mean systolic night blood pressure), SDN_diff (SDBP-SNBP), s_dipper (SDN_diff%), DDBP (mean diastolic day blood pressure), DNBP (mean diastolic night blood pressure), DDN_diff(DDBP-DNBP) d_dipper d_dipper (DDN_diff%)s_dipp (systolic dipper),d_dipp (diastolic dipper), t_dipp (systolic and diastolic dipper), SD_ndipp (reverse dipper), BPs_7_04... (systolic BP, hour_sampleID)BPd_7_2... (diastolic BP, hour_sample ID)THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Emotions and their cognitive and adaptive functions

Emotions appeared very early in phylogenetic and ontogenetic development. The word emotion originates from the Latin verb movere. However, attempts to distinguish and name the concept represented by the phrase emotion reach back to the beginnings of human language. The compound and subjective nature of emotions stress an essential aspect of this phenomenon, which leads to changes in physiological, psychological, and behavioral issues. World literature dedicates significant attention to the mutual associations between the cognitive and adaptive processes and emotions. Emotions help to estimate the adaptational meaning of stimuli. Its cognitive aspect is, however, just as significant. The review of the literature presented herein is an attempt to classify and evaluate particular emotions, both positive and negative, and the influence they have on physical and mental health. Paul Ekman, the author of one of the more esteemed classification attempts, has distinguished six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. These universal emotions are recognized based on emotional facial expressions, the automatic reactions that unfold within microseconds. Robert Plutchik, on the other hand, devised his „emotion wheel” upon which he organized eight basic emotions by grouping them in pairs comprising a combination of positive and negative emotions. He is also the author of one of the best framed emotional combination theories. In this respect, emotions play a crucial role as compound model reactions to everyday situations such as a long-lasting effort ensuring survival and individual development

Value of perfusion-weighted MR imaging in the assessment of early cerebral alterations in neurologically asymptomatic HIV-1-positive and HCV-positive patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Asymptomatic central nervous system (CNS) involvement occurs in the early stage of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. It has been documented that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) can replicate in the CNS. The aim of the study was to evaluate early disturbances in cerebral microcirculation using magnetic resonance (MR) perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) in asymptomatic HIV-1-positive and HCV-positive patients, as well as to assess the correlation between PWI measurements and the clinical data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-six patients: 17 HIV-1-positive non-treated, 18 HIV-1-positive treated with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), 7 HIV-1/HCV-positive non-treated, 14 HCV-positive before antiviral therapy and 18 control subjects were enrolled in the study. PWI was performed with a 1.5T MR unit using dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) method. Cerebral blood volume (CBV) measurements relative to cerebellum (rCBV) were evaluated in the posterior cingulated region (PCG), basal ganglia (BG), temporoparietal (TPC) and frontal cortices (FC), as well as in white matter of frontoparietal areas. Correlations of rCBV values with immunologic data and liver histology activity index (HAI) were analyzed. RESULTS: Significantly lower rCBV values were found in the right TPC and left FC as well as in PCG in HIV-1-positive naïve (p = 0.009; p = 0.020; p = 0.012), HIV-1 cART treated (p = 0.007; p = 0.009; p = 0.033), HIV-1/HCV-positive (p = 0.007; p = 0.027; p = 0.045) and HCV-positive patients (p = 0.010; p = 0.005; p = 0.045) compared to controls. HIV-1-positive cART treated and HIV-1/HCV-positive patients demonstrated lower rCBV values in the right FC (p = 0.009; p = 0.032, respectively) and the left TPC (p = 0.036; p = 0.005, respectively), while HCV-positive subjects revealed lower rCBV values in the left TPC region (p = 0.003). We found significantly elevated rCBV values in BG in HCV-positive patients (p = 0.0002; p<0.0001) compared to controls as well as to all HIV-1-positive subjects. There were no significant correlations of rCBV values and CD4 T cell count or HAI score. CONCLUSIONS: PWI examination enables the assessment of HIV-related as well as HCV-related early cerebral dysfunction in asymptomatic subjects. HCV-infected patients seem to reveal the most pronounced perfusion changes

Disability and emotional symptoms in women with lipedema : a comparison with overweight/obese women

Background: Lipedema is characterized by the painful abnormal deposition of adipose tissue in the lower limbs and is often misdiagnosed as obesity. Considering the numerous bothersome physical symptoms of lipedema, women with lipedema may have greater disability and emotional problems than women with lifestyle-induced obesity. Objectives: Our study aims to assess disability, anxiety and depression symptoms in women with lipedema compared to women with overweight/obesity. Material and methods: Women with lipedema (n = 45, with a mean age of 41 years) and women who are overweight/obese (n = 43, with a mean age of 44.95 years) were asked to complete the following questionnaires: The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS II), Beck's Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II), and The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Despite the higher BMI in the overweight/obesity group, the group with lipedema was more disabled in numerous domains of the WHO-DAS II questionnaire, including Life activities - domestic, work and school responsibilities and Participation in society When the influence of BMI was adjusted, a difference in the domain of Mobility was also present. The study groups did not differ in anxiety and depression symptoms. Conclusions: We showed that behavioral impairment was the main factor affecting functioning in women with lipedema. Emotional symptoms did not differentiate the study groups. Leg volumes and adipose tissue pain intensity were associated with greater disability in women with lipedema, and should be considered in managing women with this condition and in future research estimating the effectiveness of lipedema treatment